Boom Boom Pow

So i went to see this Boxing/MMA gym today, not what i thought it would be like.

The room is a single room, approximately 40×40 feet. Intimate.

I didn’t know what to think, it was small and the facilities did not seem that extensive, the gentleman that showed me around was nice and explained how they work.

You book in for specific sessions, there could be 5 people in each session and you do several different activities for 30 minutes. From boxing, fitness sparing etc.

Depending on how much you wanted to do depends on how much you pay.

There is always a trainer taking the lessons.

I like the idea, but this seems so inflexible. From what he said 3 x 30 minute sessions a week would be around $110 for a month. This is not a personal instructor, and the price seems reasonable (if they are small groups).

However what if i want to go to the gym on an extra day and i have used my 3×30 minute sessions up. i generally go 5 days a week and workout for nearly 2 hours.

i liked the personal touch that it gave, but i am not totally convinced that its right for me.

i need to think about it.

I Want to Box

I have decided that one of my goals for 2012 is it take up boxing. I did a little when i was younger with my grand farther.

I looked into where in the Westlake area i could find a gym. I didnt hold out much hope, being a nice area i thought that it wouldn’t be the type of thing for around here.

However, there is one located within 700 feet of my apartment, what luck. I am going to go and see their facilities, but from their website, they look like they do both MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), Boxing and fitness classes.

I am excited, as i want to become a member of a small and personal gym, as the last one i was apart of was far too commercial and impersonal.

We will see what happens when i go tomorrow.

NEW Uncle Part 2

For Part 1 click Here

“Yes we can have him” immediately I regretted saying it.

My wife and I were the only ones left who could have the little ANGEL! Dam it.

The night started well, he washed his hands ready for dinner, took his shoes off and sat at the table.

We limited his distractions by not having the TV on all night and sitting in the dining room.

Unlike his usual self he was chatting and smiling, he ate his dinner and as it was Friday we said he could stay up later than usual.

As he had been good we went to get frozen yogurt, which he demolished. Then we played a game of UpWords.

Again all in the dining room. We wanted to limit the noise and general craziness of his stimuli as the house he lives in is always loud and has at least 4 people in it. And for a boy with ADHD it’s a nightmare for him to concentrate.

He was perfect all night, until we put him to bed. He was fine and got into bed. After 5 minutes we checked on him and he was up with the light on playing in his room.

We reminded him that it was bed time and then I remembered he hadn’t brushed his teeth, so I asked him to, and that’s when the trouble started. The kicking and screaming went on for 5 minutes with him hitting and lashing out.

My wife and I have been married one month and are going to wait 5 or so years until we have our first. What could be better than this practice?

We gave him several minutes and 2 options, 1 he brushes his teeth, or 2 I brush them for him.

He chose the hard way!

After this we told him to rinse and he wouldn’t, so I said that’s fine and I picked him up and put him to bed, the kicking and screaming continued.

I marched him to the bathroom to rinse and after more hitting screaming and kicking (on his part!) he finally rinsed.

The things you have to do for oral hygiene with these kids. We put him to bed and took away the toys he was playing with. My wife and I took a lot away from the experience, like, don’t have kids!!

Seriously though it’s a great contraceptive!

Any comments and tips welcome!

Thanks

Ed

An Englishman’s Duty!

I have a problem, at least I feel it’s a problem. Other people might laugh, some might agree, but when it comes down to it, it’s a problem to me!

I don’t know what to say, my wife says its fine, she is happy about it, and encourages me when possible!

My problem is that I cannot stand anyone hearing or seeing that I am going to the toilet!

Urinating is fine, I can spray that all over the place and feel fine. It’s the other end I have problems with.

Am I alone? My wife is not watching or even bothered but being a one bathroom house at the minute is dangerous!

I need to go and she’s in there doing makeup and showering, things get complicated!

I’m not a 5 minute guy either, I need to relax, chill and read, when alone its a lovely and relaxing experience!

But just ask me to leave the door unlocked and I become a rigid, blocked up individual.

Surely people feel like me!

Comment please!

I NEED to Complain

I am here in the US on a Fiance Visa, I am now married, I have been to the Social Security Office and DMV and gotten both a Social Security Card and Drivers License.

A family friend has offered me a dream job. I mean fantastic a really great opportunity, however he needs to fill the position now. Yesterday.

I want and need to work as California is not cheap.

I think, ‘great i have a visa and i am married to a US Citizen’. So i fill in the paper work to change my status to married only to come a cross a form that is a permission to work form.

Little did i know that i have to fill in a form to ask to work, and it will take 30-45 days once received to input into the computer only!!! How the hell, when i am inputting all the information onto a set document does it take 30-45 days?

And that’s just for them to input!

If the form is good they will send me permission to work a month after that! What the hell takes so long?

I have a job now that someone can give me and i have to tell them i cannot take it for another 2 months at least. If i had known about this for the last 2 months being here  i would have filled the form out the first day i got here like when i called USCIS the first day of being here to find out what the next stage was, all i was told by them was to go and get a social security card, which i did. (USCIS had never mentioned before in all our conversations, i had to apply for permission to work, and a fiance visa is just an entry visa).

I am so very bored and have been offered a job. I want to earn money. But this might not be an option for 2 months because it seems like they are training the USCIS people to read.

Anyone, does anyone know who can help me. Just make a call and ask them to hurry up with my documents so i can help raise the US out of this economic pit of doom that it’s in.

I  know that 12% of US Citizens are out of work so you might say why should an ENGLISH person get a job, well the job i will do will create hundreds of jobs for hard-working Americans over the next few years, that’s my excuse anyway.

Any help or constructive advice is warmly welcomed.

Comments also Welcome

Thanks

Ed

 

 

NEW Uncle

Last week my lovely new nephew decided to get suspended from school again 3rd time lucky, i think not. The 3 times in as many weeks.

Everyone was at work accept me as i am still waiting to start my job. Good old uncle Ed.

Well it has long been my belief that the family has been mothering the child far too much and goes down the “how do you feel’ route rather than putting a negative action on his bad behavior.

As mentioned before in a previous blog i have spent sometime as an Army Officer in the British Army. When someone is naughty you do not physically beat them, you drill them.

His Farther called and asked me to take him for the rest of the day, i said i would as long as i could do it my way and i would make sure he doesn’t get suspended again. I ended the conversation with ‘dont worry it wont be physically upsetting for him, it will be mental’.

At this point i feel his farther is at his wit’s end and doesn’t know what to do, my time to shine!

I picked him up from school as arranged. Marched him up to the car and told him to get in. Then for the rest of the trip i allowed him  to sit in silence.

He remarked that this was not the way home, and i told him he was correct and that he was going somewhere else as he had been naughty.

I should point out that this child is highly intelligent and 8 years old, i digress.

I could see him getting nervous, i had never picked him up from school and so i guess he was wondering what the hell was happening.

We got to our house and marched him into the dining room, pulled out a dining chair and told him to sit down, face forward and put his hands on him knees, fists clenched. (it’s all in the detail and this gives you something to complain about if they don’t do it correctly).

I made him sit up straight and face forward for 30 or so minutes while i gave him a lecture about being naughty, and then asked him about consequences. I explained that for everything you do there is a consequence, this could be good or bad. If your naughty, you always get a bad consequence. From now on if he’s naughty he will have to come to see uncle Ed.

I then proceed to hand him a cloth and a spray cleaner, and told him to clean the bathroom, then all the cupboards in the kitchen, then every door knob in the house.

I then proceed to take him outside and told him to pick up every leaf on the concrete.  Once this was completed i told him that we would have lunch, which we did, i showed him that once he had completed a task as asked (like the teacher does) he would get a reward and something he wanted.

I then decided to do a school lesson, maths, reading, and writing. The math was a breeze. The reading book was a lesson for me as it was my book and i find it hard to read, he breezed through it, but did find it boring. All the time i reminded him that this was a consequence of being naughty at school and that if school was better than this then he should be good so he doesn’t have to come back.

When we got to the writing part i set the topic of ‘Why i don’t like school’. He would not write, i changed the subject to ‘Why i am naughty at school’. Nothing!. Ok how about ‘Why i like my teacher more than i like uncle Ed’. Still NOTHING!.

OK, i explained that when a teacher asked him to do something he had to do it, as they are trying to help him. I then explain consequences again and told him that he had a choice, either he writes or he picks up leaves. This was explained several times to make sure that he knew he had a choice. He told me there was no leaves left and that he didn’t want to write. SO, i emptied the bags of leaves and told him to pick them up.

After an hour, he started complaining that he wanted to go for a walk. i said we would if he finished the leaves. Again reminding him of the consequences for good and bad behavior.

We went for a walk as promised but during the walk he pushed the limit after i had told him not to run out of my sight. He did this and the second time i showed me sadness and told him the consequence was that he had to sit still on a chair until his farther came. This lasted over one hour. i made him face a wall on a chair and monitored his posture to make sure he found it totally uncomfortable.

As always i made sure he understood that school is a better place to be. We concluded the day when his farther came. I told him everything we had done, and then spoke to the little monster about how this was because he was naughty and next time i see him fun uncle Ed will be back, unless he is NAUGHTY!!

3 weeks later and he’s not had a bad day at school since, and he still likes me!

As ever comment as much as you like, but keep it constructive.

Thanks

Ed

Why I Believe in Tipping!

As most people in the restaurant service industry know Europeans do not always tip as well, if at all compared to US diners.

Until around a year ago i was of the attitude that the waiters and waitresses get paid a wage to do their job as i do. If i sell a product to someone they do not pay for it then hand me 15% of its cost as a tip? Which in essence is what happens in restaurants.

However, now that i have spent more time in American restaurants i can see and understand that tipping is for service. The better the service the more i tip. This brings me to the point, if i feel is that i receive bad or no service i will not tip as they have done the bare minimum which they get paid for by the restaurant.

In England our service is generally not as good as the US as they server knows that they will not be getting a tip 8 times out of 10. So what is the point of being overly nice if you will only be earning the same regardless. Which is why i believe in tipping.

The more demanding i am to the server the more i tip at the end, if they have kept up, made themselves available as soon as possible and have been polite i will be happy and will make sure that they are happy after i have left.

This is a small issue i know, but i wanted to address it.